Stacked projectile firearms have been developed and tested for almost as long as firearms have existed. The concept was of interest to muzzle loaders because it provided for multiple firings between reloadings. More recently, interest has been rekindled because the concept provides for firearms with few, if any, moving parts and with very high rates of fire.
Stacked projectile firearms were developed before breech loading firearms were. Breach loading firearms include bolt action, revolver, semiautomatic, and automatic firearms. The stacked projectile firearms, however, were inferior for a number of reasons. They are hard to reload because each projectile in the stack must be precisely positioned. Initial discharges tended to compact subsequent loads and thereby change firing characteristics. Initial discharges could feed back into subsequent loads and cause a chain firing or explosive condition. These, and other factors, led to stacked projectile firearms being less reliable than breach loading firearms. Recent developments have addressed the reliability issues.
In military applications, projectile weapons such as firearms are typically used for actively defense or for attack. Stationary explosive munitions such as mines, however, are typically used for passive defense. Herein, “active” indicates that a person is directly involved in targeting and firing. “Passive” indicates that a person is not currently actively engaged. As such, a force encountering projectile weapons reacts far differently than a force encountering stationary explosive munitions. Systems and methods for employing projectile weapons to passive defense are needed.